In computer programming, especially object-oriented programming, a method is commonly identified by its unique method signature, which usually includes the method name, and the number, types and order of its parameters. A method signature is the smallest type of a method.
Method signature
In computer programming, especially object-oriented programming, a method is commonly identified by its unique method signature, which usually includes the method name, and the number, types and order of its parameters. A method signature is the smallest type of a method.
Method overloading
Method signatures can be used by the compiler to distinguish between methods with the same name, but with different parameters. This is called method-overloading. The precise characteristics of method overloading depends on the programming language. Overloading should not be used for methods that perform an different operation as that will make the source code hard to read.
Examples
Example of declarations of two overloaded methods with the same name, but with a different method signature:
void drawPoint(int x, int y);
void drawPoint(Point p);
in this case it is likely that drawPoint(x, y) internally converts x and y into a Point instance. This kind of function is therefore called a convenience method.
